Fewest Watches

The featured chart displays the number of year to date Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado
Watches issued by the Storm Prediction Center since 1997. The top panel displays the
number issued nationwide, the middle panel shows the number that had any part of the
initial watch outline overlap Iowa, and the bottom panel shows the percentage of watches
that overlapped Iowa for that year. This year's total is a mere 52, which is the lowest found
within the modern database. It is interesting to see each of the past five years show up in
the least number of watches for the period.